DISTANCE EDUCATION LEADERSHIP: AN APPRAISAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Abstract

A new role for the professoriate in the new millennium has been recognized and encouraged, especially as technology-assisted instruction has proliferated and changed the way teachers and students interact, as well as the manner in which educational entities must now do business to meet the demands of a digitized society. The literature describing the rapid evolution of distance education delivery systems over the past twenty years has frequently categorized it into three stages, from correspondence education, to technology-assisted education and, more recently, networked education. Although all three remain, and there are variants on each of these models, the theme is consistent that we are now witnessing dramatic changes in how instruction is designed and delivered over time and space. As this dynamic becomes more frequent and more pervasive, faculty have been admonished to be more receptive and adaptive to opportunities for playing exciting new roles in the distance education arena. But it seems we have not yet paid adequate attention to new roles required of leaders within those institutions. Schools and colleges in the new millennium need leaders who have reflected on their experiences and internalized understandings about their own capacity to lead. This should apply no less to those in leadership roles in distance education settings within those